Submitted Photo A “victim” from the mock disaster drill, held by five local volunteer fire departments, is loaded into the Starflight helicopter for transport.

GERRY — Five area volunteer fire departments, along with the Starflight helicopter and the Chautauqua County Office of Emergency Services, recently combined for a mock disaster drill that revolved around a “make believe” collapse of the bleachers at the Gerry rodeo grounds.

Approximately 50 EMS and fire department volunteers from Gerry, Fluvanna, Ellington, Falconer and Sinclairville arrived on the scene within minutes of notification with more than a dozen emergency vehicles, including an ambulance from each department to treat 20 “victims” whose injuries ranged from cuts and bruises to broken bones to a fatality.

The victims, who were members of the Jamestown Civil Air Patrol, along with several community volunteers, had fake injuries that appeared very realistic due to outstanding make-up work headed by Laura Logan, the EMS captain for the Cassadaga Fire Department, and Roberta Edwards from the Panama Fire Department. Injuries were given priority based on their severity, with one victim, who had been trapped under debris, being flown out by Starflight. Those needing hospital treatment were loaded into ambulances for transport.

Upon completion of the drill, the volunteers met in the pavilion on the rodeo grounds for an evaluation by Steve Cobbs, Chautauqua County EMS Coordinator, and Kevin Peebles, Project Coordinator for the County EMS.

The event was developed by Bob Rein, the EMS captain from the Gerry Fire Department. He was assisted in the planning by EMS captains Chris Roll, Sinclairville; Jodi Shaw, Ellington; Dan Braggs, Fluvanna; Lee Purdue, Falconer; and Jessica Fosberg, Falconer. He also is grateful for the assistance of Krista Swanson, Chief Flight Nurse for Starflight, and Scott Bailey, Third Battalion Fire Coordinator, for their help.

Rein says that the drill was very successful and that he was pleased with the quick response and the cooperation among the volunteers. He further added that hopefully a major disaster such as this will never happen here, but this event proved that the volunteer fire departments were able to stretch their resources and display preparedness in the event of a crisis.